|OPERATIONS of RAFT IN THE AMATEUR SATELLITE SERVICE 22 Nov 2004 |----------------------------------------------------------------------- | WB4APR | |This paper addresses the licensing of RAFT in the Amateur Satellite |Service. It extracts the pertinent sections of the IARU (International |Amateur Radio Union) guildelines for INFORMATION FOR PROSPECTIVE OWNERS |AND OPERATORS OF SATELLITES UTILIZING FREQUENCIES ALLOCATED TO THE |AMATEUR-SATELLITE SERVICE which helps assure compliance with the ITU |rules. This document may be viewed in its entirety at: |http://www.iaru.org/satellite/prospective.html | |RULES: | "Amateur-Satellite Service: A radiocommunication service using space | stations on earth satellites for the same purposes as those of the | amateur service." [RR S1.57] | | "Amateur Service: A radiocommunication service for the purpose of | self-training, intercommunication and technical investigations | carried out by amateurs, that is, by duly authorised persons | interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without | pecuniary interest." [RR S1.56] | |RAFT COMMENT: | |Sponsoring Organization: US Naval Academy |Operating Organization: US Naval Academy Amateur Radio Club W3ADO |Station Trustee: Bob Bruninga, WB4APR |Satellite Station Licensee: Ryan Johnson, K3FOR | |Bob Bruninga is the senior research engineer in the Naval Academy Student |project lab who gives engineering guidance to student satellite projects. | |Ryan (Skip) Johnson is an active friend of the Academy, a past president |and Officer Representative of the Amateur Radio Club, who still meets with |it regularly. He is an unpaid Naval Reservest with NO PECUNIARY association |with the US Naval Academy, NRL, NASA nor any other Organization involved in |this project. | |RULES: | | "VI. OPERATIONAL GUIDELINES. The following operational guidelines, based | on interpretations by IARU of the Radio Regulations and good amateur | practice, are intended to help in planning the missions, management, and | control of satellites planned to operate in the amateur-satellite service. | | Organisations building satellites should compare their mission plans to | the requirements of the amateur-satellite service. Then, they should | determine if it is possible to comply with the requirements of the | amateur-satellite service or if licensing and operation should be in some | other radio service which is more consistent with the nature and | requirements of the mission. | | A. The purposes of an amateur satellite should be: | | (1) To provide communication resources for the general amateur radio | community and/or | (2) To conduct technical investigations in all respects consistent with | the Radio Regulations. [See RR S1.56 and RR S1.57.] | | Technical investigations carried out using frequencies allocated to the | amateur-satellite service should be relevant to the development of "radio | technique," that is, have a reasonable possibility of application to the | development of radio communication systems. [See RR S1.56 and RR S1.57.] | | Examples of such technical investigations include: propagation studies, | operational analysis of protocols used for digital voice and data | communication, development of attitude determination methods, development | of command and control procedures, studies of radiation effects on various | electronic components, studies of meteor trail reflection, and measurement | of the orbital environment useful in designing future amateur satellites. | | While many other types of technical investigations are conceivable, those | not having a reasonable possibility of application to radio communication | systems are probably not in accordance with the treaty requirements. An | administration can reject whatever it decides is inappropriate use of the | amateur-satellite service or questions may be raised by other | administrations. | |RAFT COMMENT: RAFT is fully in compliance with the purposes above. | |1) RAFT communications system is designed as a PCsat follow-on AX.25 packet |radio UI packet digipeater for all users in the Amateur Satellite Service. | |2) Secondly, the Naval Space Surveilance System Radar transponder experiment |is a dire need for small satellites operating in the Amateur Satellite |Service because of the difficulty in tracking these small objects. Develop- |ment of a low cost small radar fence transponder will have direct benefit |for use in future Amateur Satelites. | |RULES: | | B. Station Control. | | All stations operating in the amateur service and the amateur- satellite | service, including space and Earth stations, must be controlled by "duly | authorised persons," that is, licensed amateur radio operators who must be | acting "solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest." [See | RR S1.56 and RR S1.57.] | | AMSAT-NA, for example, is an organisation which owns and builds space | stations to operate in the amateur-satellite service. But, because it is | an organisation and not an individually licensed radio amateur, it may not | control an amateur station. Licenses under which AMSAT-NA owned amateur | stations are operated are issued either in the name of an individually | licensed amateur radio operator or an amateur radio club... where a | licensed amateur radio operator is named on the license as trustee | for the club station. | | In every case, an individual licensed amateur radio operator, who is | neither employed nor paid by [the club or organization], is legally | responsible for the operation of every amateur station or amateur-satellite | station. Commonly, the licensee is an unpaid member of the organisation... | | Thus, the individual responsibility of the licensed amateur radio | operator, effectively imposed by the Radio Regulations, works as a kind of | legal safety check for the organisation and the amateur to protect both of | their interests as well as that of the amateur satellite service itself. | |RAFT COMMENT: RAFT's organizational structure and operators are |compliant with these rules. The operating organization is the school's |Amateur Radio Club with WB4APR as the licensed trustee of the station |and the licensed control operator for the satellite will be Skip Johnson, |K3FOR as noted above. The interest of these individuals is in the |operation of the satellite for personal training and intercommunications |with other satellite experimenters in the amateur satellite service and |without pecuniary remuneration for such interest. Bob Bruninga has a 20 |year non-pecuniary history with the Amateur Satellite Service, the author |of dozens of related papers in AMSAT and other Amateur Radio publications, |and the instigator of Packet Radio APRS position reporting via SAREX, MIR, |ARISS, SUNSAT, SAPPHIRE, and PCSAT for purely personal aims of promoting |the Amateur Satellite Service. | | |RULES: | D. Plain Language. The amateur-satellite service, by its nature, involves | stations of more than one country. International communi- cation between | amateur stations in different countries must be in plain language. [See RR | S25.2.] The plain language requirement includes telemetry and data | exchanged between users. | | To meet the plain language requirement, technical descriptions of all | emissions, codes, and formats must be made publicly available. No system | intended to conceal the meaning of a transmission may be used. | | NOTE: Space telecommand transmissions for critical spacecraft functions | are generally accepted as exempt from the requirement to use plain | language. | |RAFT COMMENT: The design, telemetry, data and all aspects of RAFT are |in plain language (AX.25 protocol) and all details are published and |maintained current on the following WEB page: |http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/raft.html | |RULES: | E. Open Access. All telecommunication facilities, except telecommand, | operating in amateur-satellite service allocations should be open for use | by amateur radio operators world-wide. All experiments utilising | frequencies allocated to the amateur-satellite service should be freely | available for use by radio amateurs world-wide and for reception by | students and educators. | |RAFT COMMENT: All communications modes (except command) and all telemetry |will be available to all amateur radio operators worldwide in accordance |with the published user operating recommendations. There is no other |usage of these communications transponders, nor circuits beyond what has |been described here for use in the Amateur Satellite Service. There may |be periods when the transponder is commanded off for the purpose of |saving power, or keeping temperatures under control, but such OFF times |will apply to all users equally. When communications modes are activated, |they are open to all radio amateurs worldwide who adhere to the recommended |user station requirements and uplink parameters. | |Bob Bruninga, WB4APR |Trustee, |US Naval Academy Amateur Radio Club |410-293-6417